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LEGISLATIVE NEWSLETTER I--JANUARY 24th, 2011
Constituents:
This is my first legislative letter reporting the process, good deeds, adventures, and other activities of the 2011 Idaho Legislature.
We actually do have a few pieces of good news amid the gloom of economic projections.
I recently talked with the Head of the Idaho Tax Commission Audit Division. He reports that auditors collected about $90 million from non-taxpayers between July 1st to December 31st. This again points out that we need to hire more tax auditors.
In order to qualify for food stamps the asset value moved from $2,000 to $5,000 in order to qualify. Last session Rep. Eric Anderson and Rep. Bob Nonini introduced a bill that encouraged JFAC
to hold a public meeting.
The legislation failed but JFAC got the message and this Friday they held an open meeting regarding the proposed education budget. More than 600 of the public attended. The New State Capitol auditorium and anterooms held all 600. A total of 83 citizens were able to testify during the four hour session. The session was well organized and a great success for direct public involvement.
1. Economy and Budget--The good news is that it appears that Idaho's economy is slowly improving. Increasing tax revenues over the Governor's projections are encouraging; however, we will need to
carefully watch the income tax returns of April and May which are the biggest tax return months of the year. We need to remember that we still have over 9% unemployment, and Idaho still has one of the highest foreclosure
rates in the U.S. The Governor's budget projected a $340 million deficit; however, conservatives project an even higher figure. One of the mysteries is that the Governor basically held k-12 and Higher
Education harmless (no cuts in their budgets). K-12 and Higher Education represent about 60% of the budget so many were wondering if state agencies and programs were going to take the major brunt of the needed
cuts.
The Governor did not mention anything about any tax increases to help resolve the problem. It is apparent that the intent is to severely cut back on Idaho's Health and Welfare programs including Medicaid.
2. Education--Superintendent (SPI) Tom Luna unveiled his Education Reform plan before JFAC and the House and Senate Education Committees.
There are many major components and we will be hearing many details in the weeks to come. One major part of the plan is to increase class size by about 1.3 students. Mr. Luna feels that this will save the state about $60 million/year. Major emphasis will also be on increasing on line education courses to all Idaho schools through the Idaho Education Network, and the various Virtual Schools that are operating in Idaho. Mr. Luna also proposes that all high school juniors will be required to take two on line courses in order to graduate. He also wants the state to provide all 9th graders with laptop computers. The combined impact of this proposal will be to eliminate between 700-1,000 teachers, some 50 administrators, and about 250 certified staff. As they say, "the Devil is in the Details" and there are many who are both in support and opposed to the new recommendations.
The SPI also wants to eliminate the 99% funding safety net for rural districts. I believe this will negatively impact the ability of our rural school districts to deliver quality academic programs. Mr. Luna states that he has involved all of the stakeholders in the development of his Educational Reform Proposal; however, in a joint meeting before JFAC and the House and Senate Education Committees Senator Malepai asked the State Board of Education if the Board has been involved in the development of the proposal. There was a moment of silence and then Russ Westerberg, the Board President said, "No." It seems rather odd that the State Board of Education has not been involved in the process of developing the most sweeping and comprehensive piece of educational reform in the last 25 years in the state.
3. Taxes--We need to hire more tax auditors to go after non-taxpayers. The payoff has been $15 return for every $1 invested. Hopefully there will be movement towards taxing internet sales.
Idaho needs to send a representative to help move the State toward joining a state compact that will help Congress to initiate laws that will help Idaho move toward the taxing of internet sales. Rep. Ringo and I have introduced across the desk that would force the state to take a closer look at the 80 exemptions that we now have on the books. Idaho takes in about 1 billion in sales tax each year and grants 1.7 billion in sales tax exemptions. We are proposing that the Legislature take a close look at which exemption provide a benefit to the state. Those that do not provide a benefit should be eliminated and the monies transferred to the state general fund to be appropriate to priority programs. We do not propose eliminating health or production exemptions.
Well, this is enough for the start of the session. I'd like to hear your comments and recommendations.
My e mail is:
ttrail@house.idaho.gov
and my phone # is (208) 332-1184
Rep. Tom Trail
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